InterHouse Cooperation
by Sorceress14
Summary: The teachers at Hogwarts think that the time is ripe to aquaint the feuding houses in honor of interhouse cooperation day. Trapped in a joint common room, the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses must learn to get along. See what happens! SLASH!
1. Prologue

In a society where some are superior to others and people are treated like animals just because of a bloodline, it is hard to imagine that a relationship could exist between two sworn enemies who hated each other for this exact reason of high class-manship and what was considered appropriate. We first see this clash of interests in Shakespeare's play 'Romeo and Juliet' in which the two lovers were born of rivaled parents and had to fight to stay together Battling warlords, soldiers, and suicide, they made it through. Of course, this story has nothing to do with Romeo and Juliet and will probably contain more sex but just for literature's sake, Harry''s ordeal was very relatable.

Harry Potter attended a school that you wouldn't believe existed even if it was written directly in your trusty history book or if you're a fan of bloody goblin rebellions, shopping in Diagon Alley, or evil bake sales. I'm sorry to say that this school, did indeed, exist and if you came to me with the excuse that you searched for it and had no luck, then I would tell you that this school has it's ways of hiding from unwanted eyes like yourself and many others before your.

Of course, you probably already know that school of which I'm speaking because you would not be reading this right now unless you were a fan of goblin rebellions, shopping in Diagon Alley, and evil bake sales so I'll just get on with the story.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a place where magic beyond measure and heroism beyond compare could be found but it was what went on behind closed doors that was significant.

Hundreds of hormonal teenagers getting into mischief left and right, potions accidents, students shagging like mad, and rivalries between the four houses that never seemed to be settled.

The most type-worthy of these rivalries was the one that went on between the notorious Gryffindor and Slytherin houses and this will be the one that will prove to be the hardest to conquer.

The aforementioned Harry Potter was a resident of Gryffindor house and as such he was a brave student who would do anything to protect his friends. Also characteristic of a Gryffindor, he despised the inhabitants of Slytherin house. He hated them not for their cunning or ambition, for he too had some very Slytherin-like qualities . In fact, he had almost been chosen to be a part of the green and silver clad pupils but thought better of it, landing him in the position he was today. No, the reason that he hated the Slytherins was because most, if not all, of the residents of Slytherin were of Death Eater decent.

If you don't know what a Death Eater is, you're stupid. Oh, who am I kidding, you ARE stupid.

Anyway, back to the story. Harry hated the descendents of the Death Eaters because he knew that they would turn out exactly like their parents and become murderous lunatics that would soon be the end of him and his friends. As such, he did not bother to converse with them, let alone befriend them. But once in a while, when a certain blonde boy decided he was going to get snarky, Harry abandoned his position as a loyal conservative and put up his guard against the ones that haunted his dreams.

When these occasional disputes did occur, the teachers of this magical school made sure to end them quickly but when they took place where no teacher was present, things got a bit more nasty.

The last time that Harry was in close proximity to Draco Malfoy, they both ended up in the hospital wing, Harry with a twitching left foot and Draco with an oozing right ear.

Now, as the war with Voldemort was over and the Slytherins seemed to be unhappy about being overpowered, these fights seemed to be occurring more often than ever before.

The intelligent little devils that they are, the professors of said school thought in necessary to dissolve the fights and have everyone in the school be friends, or at least acquaintances, once and for all.

It was a mystery to Harry how they planned to solve what resulted from hundreds of years of fighting but it was made apparent the very next morning. All the students of Hogwarts, especially the ones of Gryffindor and Slytherin were in for a very unpleasant surprise. . .

A/N: Don't say I didn't warn you. . . Anyway, the rest of the story is going to be a lot better (and a lot longer), this was just a sort of thing to get a bit of background for the story even though it didn't turn out well at all. Well, hopefully, I didn't scare you off. . . tell me it was awful if you must, I have no self-esteem left to lose anyway. . .

Note: The thing about the evil bake sales was from Cassandra Claire's 'Draco Dormiens', a worthwhile piece of fiction that I could never hope to


	2. Inter House What?

A/N: Wow, I told you to give me bad reviews and you gave me good ones (although it did help my self-esteem a pinch :) even though I called you mindless idiots. Wait, I never did that, but I think I should. So you mindless idiots, maybe if told you to give garbage, you'll perhaps think it wise to parade me in riches! No? It was worth a try. . . 

Disclaimer: I've tried blackmail, violence, and even chocolate cupcakes but sadly, these characters still do not belong to me.

Chapter 1: Inter-House What?  
It was Saturday at breakfast and the Great Hall was full of chatter. The lives of all the happy children were so wonderful and unblemished by the things that lurked beyond the castle walls at this very moment. There was no way for Harry Potter and his fellow classmates to know that their happiness would soon be beaten to a bloody pulp and then shoved into a blender, not to mention peed on and flushed down the toilet.

The aged Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore stood up slowly from his seat and raised his wand into the air, sending mauve sparks up into the air in order to draw attention to himself, as every teacher loves to do. Of course there was no need for this because the second the the aged Professor stood up, every eye in the room went to him. After the war, those on the winning side felt a sense of respect towards him more than ever before and those on the losing side were too scared of him to show anything but generosity.

Harry looked up respectfully at the man who had saved his life on countless occasions and listened intently for what he had to say. On the other side of the room, however, Draco Malfoy, although looking up at the headmaster as were all else, was dreading his speech. 'Probably praising Potter on his courageous act of glory again,' he thought.

The small amount of silverware clattering that was left since the Dumbledore stood up ceased at once as he began to speak in his wheezy but jubilant voice.

"As you all know, today is Inter-House Cooperation Day," he said.

At once, the chatter broke out again. "Inter-House what," Ron blurted out from the Gryffindor table, afraid of what this could mean. "Inter-House Cooperation Day, Ron," Hermione hissed in her boyfriend's ear. "It was created in light of the end of the war. The school thought it appropriate to unite all the houses now that we are all on the same side. I personally thought that something like this would have been useful before the war began, but that's just me," she said in her bossy tone.

'Oh great,' Harry thought. Just what he needed, a lecture on being nice to Slytherins.

"Why didn't you warn us earlier, Hermione," Harry asked.

"It was in the New, Unbiased, Un-braised, Uncut, and Unabridged version of Hogwarts: A History. I would have thought that you and Ron would have started reading that by now," she said, sounding scandalized.

"Hermione, when have Harry and I ever read anything that wasn't assigned to be read? Hell, when have we read anything that was assigned to be read," Ron asked.

He was cut short by the continuation of Dumbledore's speech.

"In honor of this very special day, we are going to have a little contest between the houses," Dumbledore said. "A joint common room will be created for one night only to pair two of each of the houses into one. Whichever two houses have the most people left in their common room by tomorrow morning will have a special ball just for those houses.

"The Head Boy and Head Girl will monitor the situations as will our prefects. If no fighting occurs and it seems like we have all gotten along, we are likely to do this again next year.

"The voting for which houses will be paired together will begin today at 12:00PM and will end at 7:00PM sharp, right after dinner is done being served. The sheets to vote can be found outside of the Charms classroom on the seventh floor. You may only vote once and every pupil must vote. The results will be announced after dinner at which time the chosen houses will gather in the joint common rooms that have been set up. The prefects will be able to direct you to the appropriate location.

"If you become aggravated with the people that you are sharing a common room with, which I'm sure you all will, please do not take rash action, simply come to the Great Hall where all of those who forfeit will sleep until the contest is over in the morning.

"Finally, I advise you all to take this very seriously as it is in hopes that we can be stronger wizards in learning foreign techniques and seeing situations from someone else's point of view, in turn gaining new opinions of our own which could effect our lives as we know it. Good luck and good day to you all."

Dumbledore sat back down as talk broke out amongst the students once again. As Harry, Ron, and Hermione gathered their school bags and stood up to go Ron said "What the bloody hell was Dumbledore talking about when he said seeing the world from someone else's point of view? If we saw our world from the Slytherins' point of view, think of where our world would be!" "Ron, I think he meant more along the lines of learning about the good side of people that you never knew was there," Hermione interjected. "Hermione, when are you going to get that Slytherins don't have good sides," Harry said. Hermione sighed.

As they made their way up the marble staircase and on to the seventh floor, Harry and Ron turned to walk in the direction of their common room but Hermione took hold of them both and forced them off to the voting ballots outside the Charms Department. 

"Hermione, I'm not bloody voting for this thing since I'm not doing it," said Ron stubbornly.

"Oh come on, Ron," Hermione said brightly. "If you vote, we have less of a chance of being paired with Slytherin and if we win, we'll have another ball!"

"Hermione, do you remember what happened the last time we had a ball," Ron asked, looking at her as though she were mad.

"Well, I'll be there with you this time, Ron, it would be much more enjoyable."

Ron still did not look convinced.

"Will you just vote, Ron," Harry said, a little unnerved by his two friends constant bickering. "I'm going to. It might not be that bad. Who in their right mind would vote for the Gryffindors and Slytherins to be together ,anyway? You'd have to be mad! Besides, even if we do get paired with them by chance, we can always just go to sit in the Great Hall."

"That's the spirit, Potter," said a drawling voice from directly behind the trio. Harry turned to see Draco Malfoy, his signature smirk in place along with his best friend and most secretive of Slytherins, Blaise Zabini, who was staring at Ron and Hermione as though he did not approve of them but seeming completely uninterested in the conversation going on between the blonde next to him and the brunette right in front of him.

"Go and hide from confrontation like you always do. Don't face things. Just let people do it for you. Just like you had Dumbledore kill You-Know-Who for you," Malfoy said.

"Yes, I'm so cowardly, Malfoy," Harry said sarcastically. "where as you and your mates only have to hide behind a power-hungry old fraud who was afraid to die."

Malfoy chuckled maliciously but Blaise stayed silent, now focusing his gaze upon Harry. He seemed to regard his statement momentarily before focusing on his bottle green eyes. Harry, in turn, fixed his own gaze upon Blaise's mysterious hazel orbs.

"Potter, you understand nothing about this world, do you," Malfoy said after he quit laughing. "This world is not made up of good and evil but of power and those too weak to seek it! Don't you see that the life you are living is only a pawn in a much larger game! He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named may be gone but his supporters and his ideas are not. Eventually, all the muggleborns and muggles will be eliminated" here he paused to glare menacingly at Hermione "as will all those to incompetent to understand it all. Then, the world will be as it should. The Death Eaters will rule and no one will ever die again!"

"Your crazy, Malfoy. What is it with you people and immortality? If I've learned anything from Dumbledore at all, it's that there are things much worse than death! Like being born into a world where no one understands you and you feel alone. I would rather die than live my life with the Dursleys' now that I know I have friends and people just like me in this world. Why can't you understand that? And you've met Hermione and you know that she's the smartest witch to ever pass through this school and she's a muggleborn. And there are hundreds of muggle scientists who are finding cures to diseases that kill people, something that you and your little gang bang seem to be so terrified of, cures that wizards like yourself could not manage to discover. You and your philosophy are all wrong, Malfoy, just admit it," Harry said.

He had not meant to say all that. He just felt so strongly about the things that Malfoy always seemed to push to the limit, that all of it just sort of flowed out of him, as though he were meant to say it all.

Malfoy looked stunned at Harry's own daring but Harry was not watching him. He was once again watching Blaise who seemed to be pondering what he said. He was then abruptly snapped out of his fixation.

Wham!

Harry fell down to the floor. Everything was blurry. The nest thing he knew, his glasses were being pushed back onto his face by a scared looking Hermione and Blaise was standing in between Ron and Draco who looked like they were about to kill each other.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Hermione asked, bending over by his side to make sure that he was alright. Harry nodded. He rubbed his head where Malfoy had punched him as he stood up, wobbling from the pain a bit. "Malfoy punched you," said Hermione, almost squealing in worry. "Yeah, that much I deduced," said Harry.

He shrugged off Hermione and walked over to where Blaise was trying to prevent Malfoy from getting away. 

"Move aside," said Harry to the Italian boy.

Blaise looked at him. He did not seem like a person who liked to be told what to do but he nonetheless, moved aside so that Harry could be face-to-face with Draco.

"You'll see, Malfoy. We're going to stay in the common room the entire time and if the professors just happen to find a dead body lying around, that's not my problem," Harry said, menacingly.

Malfoy snorted as Harry reached down to sign the ballot for Gryffindor and Slytherin to be paired together.

"Harry, are you mad," Ron said from behind him. Harry did not answer.

"You're on, Potter," said Draco with a smirk as he too reached down and placed his ballot for the Gryffindor/Slytherin pairing. Blaise soon followed. Hermione, looking skeptical at first, saw the determination in Harry's eyes to show up Malfoy once and for all so she also reluctantly signed the ballot. They all looked up at Ron.

"What," he said. "There's no way I'm spending all day with a bunch of jumped-up Slytherins," he said defiantly. "Come on, Ron, don't you want to see Malfoy's face when he wants to leave so badly but he knows he can't?"

"Yeah, Weasley, don't you want to see my face when --. Hey, wait a minute!" They all laughed. Even Blaise joined in. Harry could never remember seeing Draco look this angry before. He loved it. Finally Ron signed the ballot as well.

"See you tonight, Potter. I can't wait to see the look on your face when you're dying to leave. I'm going to torture you and your friends mercilessly until you submit," he said with a chuckle.

"Wait, don't you do that anyway," Harry said under his breath to Ron and Hermione after Draco and Blaise were out of earshot.

Finally, they moved away from the sign sheets and saw that a crowd of people had appeared there almost at once and Harry saw to his satisfaction, a couple more Slytherins and Gryffindor sign the same box. He supposed that seeing Harry's and Draco's names on the list, they figured they had some sort of plan and the courageous and mischievous people they were the Gryffs and Slyths went right along with it.

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione reached the common room to finish up some of the week's homework and play some exploding snap until lunch, Harry was sort of thankful that the teachers had devised this day. Harry thought, 'Maybe this day will turn out to be very cooperative'.

A/N: So sorry for the lack of smut but it is coming. Anyway, I have a lot in store for these feud fires so just say tuned to find out what happens! Also, I love constructive criticism because it helps me to become a better writer so tell me what you don't like, tell me what you do, give me suggestions, I love it all!


	3. The Plan

A/N: By this time, I'm sure that you think I'm utterly crazy and have too many authors notes (as mentioned by one of the reviewers) but I assure you that they are for your benefit. Like, right now for instance, had you not been reading this author's note, you would be reading the story instead and that is something that I am trying to dissuade you from doing. You see, my writing is absolutely dreadful and I would not want to put faithful readers in such agony so really, I'm saving you a lot of grief. Anyway, if you do choose to be stubborn and continue with this extremely unwitty tale, read ahead of what is in store for Harry and his school of magic and don't say I didn't warn you. . . 

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in the awful excuse for a fanfic. If I did, I do not believe that I would be writing this awful excuse for a fanfic.

Chapter 2: The Plan  
DRACO'S POV  
Draco was having a fairly good day this morning. As soon as he woke up, his girlfriend Pansy was to be found under his sheets making 'not so little Draco' feel very good indeed. When he shook her free, he headed down into the Slytherin common room where he was surprised by Angelo Iachinni, the new Slytherin Quidditch Captain (Draco was unable to get the position himself due to being caught with that little slut of a witch, Lavender Brown and her friend Parvati Patil in the Slytherin Locker Room and for some reason that old coot, Dumbledore, thought that it was disrespectful or something to the effect) told him that he had finished selecting the line up (Draco had already been chosen the previous day) and that they were looking extremely good this year. Draco always wanted to beat that god damn Harry Potter at Quidditch and it looked like he was finally going to get his chance.

After that, he headed to breakfast where he met up with his friends, Vince, Greg, Blaise, and Theo. They were all talking about the up and coming Haloween Ball that they were planning to sabotage and Draco of course, was to be in charge of it all. They chatted merrily about the complete and total destruction of the Great Hall and all of its inhabitants as the fool, Dumbledore stood up to speak.

After the war, all of the Death Eaters had been rounded up and sent to Azkaban. Most accepted that they had lost but others, like Draco's father struggled in the fight to apprehend him. During the struggle in which about twenty Aurors were sent to Malfoy Manor and attempted to catch Lucius off guard, his father hit most of them with the killing curse until the proper authorities (Dumbledore himself along with more Ministry Aurors) were called for. When Dumbledore arrived, he tried to persuade Lucius to come back to the light side, serve his time, and be reconciled as a good person in the wizarding world. But, as was with all Malfoys, Lucius let his pride get to him and tried to Avada Kedavra Dumbledore himself. He was killed at once.

During all of this, Draco had been hiding with his mother in an upstairs bedroom. He had wanted dearly to fight and prove himself to his father but his mother wouldn't hear of it. When everyone had gone, Draco was left with only the bitter memories of his father for comfort. Despite common belief, Lucius did not beat Draco. He definitely had some mental scarring from his father's constant talk of death and destruction and he was pushed a lot into going over to the dark side but aside from that, Draco was just a normal, sad little boy.

When Draco had gone back to school for his seventh year, he was determined not to go down with his family. He knew that some talked in whispers behind his back but he paid no attention. He was to busy trying to regain his reputation, still as the Hogwarts bad boy but not as the Hogwarts bad boy who was to one day to become a Death Eater. Draco still strutted down the halls as though he owned the place and he still pushed those younger and weaker than him around but he no longer planned to throw his life away and for that, the teachers had given him the stance as Head Boy. Though he didn't like to admit this, not wanting to be put in the same category as Granger, Draco was rather intelligent and thought he deserved the position.

More than changing Draco's attitude about life, the war also unhinged him in a way he never believed possible. Knowing that Dumbledore was the reason that his father was killed made Draco angrier than he could ever remember. He knew now that he would never intentionally harm him, for his mother's sake. At this point he did not care if he want to Azkaban but his mother was important to him. No, he wouldn't kill Dumbledore, but the scar would always be there. He would never see Dumbledore as a good man. Even though it was not Dumbledore who physically killed his father, in his eyes, he would always be a murderer.

Draco had thought that after the war, the other students would ease up to Slytherin a bit but they seemed as unwilling as ever to become friends so the Slytherins dished out the same treatment in return, if not worse.

So, you can see why, when the headmaster stood up to deliver a speech to the Great Hall at large and all those preppy little Gryffindors watched intently, Draco unfixed his gaze from the staff table and contened himself with paying attention to a pumpkin juice stain on the table.

He was so out of it that it came as a total shock to Draco when the whole Hall started erupting into whispers. He asked Blaise what was going on.

"What just happened," he said.

"Weren't you paying attention, Drake? Dumbledore said that today is some kind of Inter-House Cooperation Day and that there is going to be a contest to see what two houses can stay in a joint common room the longest and the winners get to have a ball," Blaise whispered.

Draco snorted. This was exactly the sort of thing that Muggle-loving fool would do.

"Well, I'm definitely not doing it," he said, thinking that maybe he would spend his free time in the library, catching up on his homework.

"Draco, are you totally thick," Blaise said. "Do you really think that Dumbledore would let us not participate? It's fucking Dumbledore, for heaven's sake! He said that we have to do it but if we get tired of our new house mates, we can forfeit and come to the Great Hall."

He thought for a minute that his great day was ruined but then Draco thought about it for a second. He did need to catch up on his homework but with a whole house full of Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, or Gryffindors, Draco could have a lot of fun. The idea of different uncomfortable scenarios he could put the little brats into brought a grin to his face.

"I'm in," Draco said, without hesitation.

Blaise looked stunned for a second but, at seeing the trademark 'I've got a scheme planned' smile, Blaise grinned as well and said "What do you have in mind?".

As Draco whispered possible game plans to Blaise, he noticed that over at the Gryffindor table, they seemed to be extremely uncomfortable about the whole idea. Draco saw Potter and his little friends whispering hurriedly back in forth in desperation as though the contest were a death sentence. He imagined all three of them, Potter, Weasley, and Granger, begging to leave. He imagined them all telling him that he was the supreme ruler of the world just to gain entry to the door.

'Oh, this is going to be fun,' Draco thought.

His plan went into effect only ten minutes later outside of the charms corridor where he met up with the Golden Three, as everyone called them.

Stage One of the plan was simply to vote for Gryffindor and Slytherin to be paired together and get as many people as possible to do as also. This proved to be far trickier than he planned.

Potter naturally wanted to beat Draco at anything and everything so him and his group of friends were easy to persuade but other seemed more problematic. Most, if not all of the Slytherins (except Blaise and Theo of course, who actually seemed to have the power of free will) seemed to do exactly what Draco told them to in fear that he would beat them to a pulp. Of course, many had questions as to why he wanted Slytherin and Gryffindor to be paired together when it was a sure fire plan for disaster. Of course, even if it being a recipe for disaster was the whole point of the thing, he told them it was just a little experiment.

The convincing of Potter and the Slytherins was easy but the rest of the Gruffindors would be a major obstacle.

As only the most prestigious and worthy got into Slytherin, there were far fewer of them than any other house so even with their vote and Potter's that still wouldn't be enough. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were to busy voting for themselves so he didn't even attempt to persuade them.

In order to get the Gryffindors to vote, one would think that you would have to shower them in kindness and apologies for all the years past. This was definitely not the case.

To figure out a plan, Draco tried looking at what he was best at. Of course, he had excellent marks but this was not the time for potion brewing or charm casting. No, he would have to rely on his other skills. Yes, the thing that Draco Malfoy was best at, besides his schoolwork, was sleeping around. Ever since third year, he had been branded with his sex god title and hadn't lost it since. Draco definitely prided himself on his bedroom skills and was happy to use them for this desperate cause.

Sure, Draco mostly slept with Slytherins but occasionally he would venture beyond the confines of his common room and find some fresh blood.

When he did sleep out of Slytherin, he always made his choices carefully. One false move and the girl could go ratting to the headmaster and lose him his Head Boy position, something he cherished, even though he would never admit it. Also when choosing a girl, Draco did take into account other things. He liked people who were adventurous and up for anything, which could prove a major asset when in the sack. He did not however, as was common belief, go strictly upon looks. Of course, he reveled upon a girl's beauty but he didn't think that it was the most important thing. As long as the person wasn't a complete idiot, could go kinky, was trustworthy, and had all the proper body parts, he would do them. He decided to use his luck with women to his advantage.

Lavender Brown was captain of the Gobstones club and head cheerleader for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She also had straight O's in every subject. She was second in line for Head Girl but of course, Hermione Granger had gotten the position. Obviously, she would care what happened if she lost her high status as 'the girl who almost beat Hermione' and wouldn't want anyone to find out any of her dirty little secrets. This information, seeming completely useless to an outsider, was the best news in the world for Draco Malfoy.

He did not think, last year, when he had shagged Lav and her friend, Parvati's brains out, that it would do anything more than make him cum but he was now finding much more use for it.

After breakfast, he had snuck up to the Gryffindor Common Room. He still had the password from when they were shagging (not dating, Malfoy's didn't date). He forced her to vote without giving reason just by mentioning her losing her precious reputation. As popular as she was, she convinced all of her friends to go along with it, telling them that her and Draco were back together and that she wanted some 'alone' time. They ate the story up and Draco now had at least ten more votes. But , it still wasn't enough.

Draco knew that the Gryffindors weren't scared of him like the Slytherins were, under Potter's example of revolt, so he couldn't threaten them. There weren't many other Gryffindors that he had slept with so he couldn't do it that way either. No, this step of Stage One was a little more complicated and actually caused Draco to have to think outside of the box a little.

He didn't want to have to resort himself to bribing Gryffindors but it looked like that was what it was coming down to. He wouldn't give them gold, he would give them something much more valuable: sex. Pansy would do all the guys for him and he would do all the girls and maybe share with Blaise if he was nice.

Most of the girls (he wasn't even going to try Granger, he get his head knocked off and have the whole plan spoiled) agreed to this, blushing furiously and some of the guys complied which now had the pairing of Gryffindor/Slytherin in the lead with no one to counter them. Draco was quite proud of himself as he left the Gryffindor common room to head for the Slytherin one. Soon, he would be able to put Stage Two of his plan into play and that would be the most fun stage of all.

HARRY'S POV  
"What was he doing in here," Hermione asked from her chair in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Who, Malfoy," Harry asked nonchalantly as he relaxed on the large red sofa in front of the fire. "He was probably chatting it up with Lavender, I heard they're going out again."

Ron, who was sitting opposite Hermione in an identical chair, blushed at this. He and Lavender had been dating for a brief period the previous year. Hermione glared at him fiercely.

"You're not jealous, are you Ron," Hermione asked, her teeth gritted.

"No, of course not," Ron said, blushing again.

Ever since the day Ron and Hermione had started dating, Harry had seen more of the similarity between them and Ron's parents with each passing moment and it was really starting to annoy him.

"If you two are going to bicker, please go somewhere else," Harry said.

Hermione stopped her glaring at once to focus her gaze upon Harry who had his face in his arms.

"Is there something the matter, Harry," Hermione asked in a much calmer tone.

"Yes, actually. I can't believe I agreed to go up against Malfoy to see who would last longer. He's probably plotting away at this very moment, thinking of the most horrible things he can do to us," Harry said miserably, trying to not let it get to his head.

Ever since he had agreed to these absurd terms, he was regretting his decision and was trying to find a way to get out of it. But, when Malfoy put his mind to something, he usually got what he wanted, hell, he usually got what he wanted even when he didn't put his mind to it. He didn't want it to show that he was worried but now that the prospect of being in a common room full of Slytherins was drawing nearer, he realized that there was nothing he could about it and decided there was no harm in telling his friends what was on his mind.

"Harry, it was your idea," Ron practically yelled, causing some people in the common room to look his way. He stood up, ignoring them and continuing with his tirade. "You're the one who talked me into this whole mess and now you want out of it. You know that Malfoy will probably have the whole student body voting in pairing of the Gryff/Slyth pairing by now, don't you? We're stuck and it's all your fault!"

"I know," Harry said miserably. "But you know how I get when Malfoy's around. He just makes me so angry that I have to compete or I can't live with myself. I didn't realize at the time what actually doing it would mean."

Ron looked furious but defeated as he sank back down onto his chair.

"It's okay, you guys," Hermione said soothingly to the both of them. It's only one night."

"Hermione, one night with the Slytherins is going to be like an eternity," Ron said.

"You're probably right," Hermione sighed as she picked up the book that she had been reading and stuck her nose back into it.

Harry looked at the clock. Only ten minutes till seven o'clock! Where had the time gone?

"We better head off down to dinner," Harry said, accepting defeat.

Ron and Hermione resignedly got up from their seats as well and they all headed down to the Great Hall to their sure doom. 

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione ate their meals as slowly as possible, as though to prolong the time until they had until the results were announced and they were supposed to go up to their new common room, they saw Malfoy across the hall, laughing hysterically as though it were the best day of his life. This just made Harry even more depressed. Now he knew for sure that Malfoy was planning something and anything Malfoy had planned could not be good news.

Harry suddenly found that he had no appetite and abandoned all pretense of trying to force down his food.

To soon, Dumbledore stood up from his high backed chair and the food and drink disappeared from the plates in front of them.

"I now have the results of the voting," he said.

Everyone, including Malfoy's head shot up. Not even someone with no respect for the old man could not pay attention at this moment.

"The results are as follows," Dumbledore read as everyone held their breath. "Hufflepuff/Gryffindor had 18 votes, Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw had 91 votes, Hufflepuff/Slytherin had 4 votes. Ravenclaw/Gryffindor had 41 votes, Ravenclaw/Slytherin -- 8 votes, and finally Slytherin/Gryffindor -- 107 votes. As was made apparent by my excellent delivering of those results and my unbelievable math skills" Dumbledore paused here to wink and smile at everyone "the pairings are as follows. Hufflefpuff/Ravenclaw and Gryffindor/Slytherin," he said as though nothing pleased him more in this world.

Many boos and groans were heard at this announcement. Apparently, some of the Gryffindors and Slytherins had no idea of the current arrangement but the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws seemed quite content with themselves, yet surprised that so many people actually voted for the two most rivaled houses in Hogwarts history to be paired in such close quarters for such a very long time. Some even seemed to feel bad for the Gryffs and reached over to pat some more somber looking members on their backs in sympathy.

"I would like Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff to please follow Mr. Malfoy to the Astronmy tower and I would like the Gryffindors and Slytherins to please follow Ms. Granger to the Room of Requirement. Prefects, your record sheet are here at the head table. Please record all of the necessary results. Remember, the Great Hall is open with its many purple sleeping bags to all those who do not want to participate but you must at least enter the common room in which you are assigned before coming back down. You may find that you want to stay there after all" he smiled "tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM, the prefects will give me the results and you can all go to breakfast. The results of the winners will be announced tonight at dinner and the congratulatory ball will be held tomorrow night. Thank you all for participating and good night."

As he finished, everyone got up and started moving in the direction of their new common room, the Head Boy and Girl in the lead. Ron left to go see Dumbldore and Hermione moved to the head of the line to direct them all to the Room of Requirement. As they went, they passed Malfoy who was shepherding the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws up to the 8th floor where the Astronomy Tower lay. He smirked at Harry and said " I just can't wait until I get back. This is going to be fun!"

As Harry walked with the other Gryffindors up to the Room of Requirement, he began to feel sick. Ron and Hermione were not there to calm him either. He knew that this entire mess was his own fault but he couldn't help feeling betrayed somehow. 'How on Earth did Malfoy convince all those people to vote,' he thought to himself. he knew that the pairing was inevitable but the truth had just now set in: he was going to be trapped in a room with a bunch of untrustworthy people for the next fourteen hours!

A/N: Yay, cliff hanger! Aren't I so nice? Well, tell me what you thought!


End file.
